Can Mid-Budget Movie Directors Find Salvation in the TV World?

Eventually, all your favorite movie stars will be on TV—and not just because the medium is still in the midst of one of the most exciting renaissances of our time. It's also because that's where the money is—and as a result, the directors and stars who used to thrive in mid-budget prestige fare are now turning to the small screen to tell their stories.

Case in point: Oscar nominee David O. Russell, whose upcoming mafia, crime TV show is officially headed to Amazon. Sweetening the deal are its major stars, Robert De Niro and Julianne Moore, neither of whom has ever starred in a TV project at this level before. Their move follows the greater trend of movie stars increasingly heading to TV—like Kevin Spacey in House of Cards, Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in True Detective, and even Glenn Close in Damages way back when. And of course, ever since we learned that even three-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep was headed to TV, it has seemed inevitable that more holdout movie stars will follow in their footsteps.

Of course, they're also likely attracted to TV due to the shockingly high budgets some of these shows land. Russell's series has already snagged a $160 million deal for two eight-episode seasons—much more than the $20 to $60 million his films generally cost. Of course, a season of TV has more hours of storytelling than a movie, and Russell generally makes realistic dramas, rather than the action movies that would demand a film budget that high—but the point remains.

In a world that's increasingly dominated by superhero and franchise films, it's harder than ever for film directors to get the money they need to make anything else. But TV—particularly streaming services like Netflix and Amazon—provides a juicy alternative by offering huge deals to star creators from the worlds of TV and film alike. Amazon recently landed Mad Men creator Matt Weiner's new show for a $70 million eight-episode deal. Netflix originally reeled in David Fincher for House of Cards with a $100 million deal. And more recently, the service spent around $120 million to execute filmmaker Baz Luhrmann's grand vision for the hip-hop series The Get Down. Where the money goes, the storytellers will certainly follow.